Boy Scouts Leader Urges End to 'Unsustainable' Ban on Gay Adults

The Boy Scouts of America's national president, Robert Gates, said Thursday that the organization's longstanding ban on openly gay adults serving as leaders is unsustainable and called for a change in policy to deter potential lawsuits, The Associated Press reports. Gates — the former U.S. defense secretary — initially called for an end to the ban when he began his tenure as president in May 2014, but he quelled further conversation after the Scouts' policymaking body upheld the rule. The ban would only be struck down as national policy; individual units — 70 percent of which are sponsored by churches — would still be allowed to hire and fire based on their own leadership criteria, including faith.